Saturday, March 31, 2012

It was J that brought us the Jamon Iberico and Ibiza Sea Salt Dark Chocolate from Spain. When she came to visit HY, she brought with her a slice of Strawberry Hokkaido Roll from Chef Icon. The Nature Bakery is located along the main road of Kampong Bahru and in one of the conservation shop house space. Even thought the bakery is located along the main road, it can be very easy to miss as it's along the stretch of a slip road before it reaches the main Kampong Bahru Road.

Here's the "five foot" way that I walked to reach No. 5 Kampong Bahru from where I parked my car. It can be a nice little quiet walk in the afternoon. At night, when the pubs and bars are opened for business, this five foot way has a different character all together.

Chef Icon is a nature bakery where Chef Francis had embarked on a journey to bring to us Avino Neutro baking where only the Finest Quality, Natural Ingredients are crafted into breads and pastries. With Avino Neutro baking, the products are made using labour intensive techniques, avoiding shortcuts, mass producing and mechanization of processes. This means that Chef Icon products will be the sincerest form of baking that nature fanatics would endorse. Even the Vegetarian Society (Singapore) recommends Chef Icon as there's the 9 Nos. No Animal Rennet, No Animal Gelatin, No Animal Meat, No Liquor, No Margarine, No MSG, No Onion & Garlic, No Preservatives and No Chemical Bread Improvers.

That quiet afternoon, I barged into Chef Icon. Chef Francis sensed that it's my first visit and when I ask for was a cafe latte from his Vibiemme coffee machine, he marketed the English Queen Cake. I bought one whole slab. Apart from that, I bought the Hokkaido Rolls that I came here for, following my Queen's decree.

English Queen Cake

I bought the blueberry flavored one which was superb. It was moist and Dad liked it so much that he had a second piece. It must be good as he'll usually stop at one and start to tell me how he can make a better one. With Chef Icon's English Queen Cake, he skipped the rattling and wolfed down a second slice. True enough, it's a good cake to go with tea or coffee. There is no photo for this cake as my camera screwed up. Time for a long waited upgrade.

I gave my colleague redeemable cake cards as a return favor for chipping in for my little Julien's milk fund. Cake cards made my life easy but guilt sets in as the day drew nearer to little Julien's full month. What the heck! I decided to splurge and treat everyone to some extra Chef Icon's Signature Cakes. They do not serve the following cakes in individual slices and only available as whole cakes in 500g, 1kg and 2kg portions.

Here's one of Chef Icon's Signature. Their pure Chocolate Trovana. Although this is a healthier cake, it was certainly rich chocolate decadence. It was pure and without pretense. Folks who ate this ask me where I got this from and want to buy it for their kids' birthdays.

Here's a closer look at the "assaulted" Chocolate Trovana.

This is another Chef Icon's signature, the New York Cheese Cake. It was smooth, creamy and had an obvious touch of citrus, probably from lemon zest. I had a show of hands who love the Chocolate Trovana or the New York Cheese Cake. This innocent looking cheesecake won the voting. It was indeed one of the better cheese cake in town.

My Queen, HY, loves Chef Icon's cakes. All my colleagues gave the thumbs up. When food make people happy, it's gotta be good food. This attests to the prowess of Avino Neutro baking techniques. I guess I'll be visiting Chef Icon soon as my Queen wants to bite on some of these tasty cheese cakes after I show her the photos.

Chef Icon has convinced me for the first time that healthy food need NOT be yucky food. So, bring in the myth busters!